Sparklers in Zushi

After the week in Tohoku, the summer seminar hubby took part in came to an end. One of the professors, S. sensei decided to throw a barbeque at his home in Zushi to send the students off with a smile. I was invited to join them again and couldn't refused. Spending time with the students in the previous week I had made friends with a couple of them ^.^ 

On the left is S. sensei with his youngest daughter, A-chan, who had taken a liking to my lace-up oxford heels. She said she wanted to be a princess xD On the right is C. who followed princess A. around in her heels and made sure she wouldn't trip and all. Aren't they both just adorable? It made me so very nervous to see A-chan who's barely 2 stumbling around in those shoes, but I guess that's why being a parent makes one brave. 

After the late brunch we all walked to the beach so I got to see a different side of Zushi I hadn't seen before. 

After I took this photo, a security guard came over and told me photos on this side of the beach is a no-no. It took me a few minutes to finally realize why - see those tall walls? They are a part of the emperor's summer home, which extends all the way to this part of the beach. Oops, I guess I must have missed a no-photo warning sign somewhere and contributed to the name of the obnoxious tourist -.-' Haa...

On the right are me, hubby, and professor L. who runs the seminar. Have you ever seen gold watermelon? They were a total surprise as S. sensei who bought them had no idea they were gold inside. They tasted slightly different than the regular red ones too, a bit sweeter even!

The lovely day ended with pretty sparklers. In Japan, there are many summer festivals with fireworks, and youths would come out to play in the festival and see the fireworks in yukatas. In a way, we got our own festival and fireworks ^.^

Below are the goodies I brought back from Tohoku. 

These are from Onagawa, Miyagi. On the left are the Iga family's hand-woven sandals repurposed from donated t-shirts. On the right are cotton fabric tissue holders.

Sake candies and sake bought from Onagawa. These gift-sized sake bottles came with their own wooden lacquered drinking cups with the name of the brewery on it!

I didn't pay attention at the time, but these sake are from Ichinokura, the same famous brewery that makes my favorite sparkling sake Suzune!

These are from Kamaishi, Iwate. On the right is a messenger bag repurposed from a cotton obi (the wide sash worn with the kimono) salvaged from the tsunami. Hubby surprised me with this bag, bought from Hourai Kan. I love it! On the left are bunny beanies repurposed from kimono silk cloths Hourai Kan's okami-san gifted to us. Super cute, no? 

And why does this sake bottle has Hourai Kan's name on it? Because the ryokan brews their own sake, that's why! How cool is that?